Need a Laugh?

New version of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" as discovered by the token boy in our group...

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently down the stream.

Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary,

Wipe your butt a dream!

This little brown thing is known as "The Pud" around here. It is the back neighbor's dog that gets in our yard and causes us grief. It looks like a pug. The kids mix up Pidge and Pug to form the newest term of endearment: Pud. "Oh, no, that little pud is back!"

Me: Brenna, is that marker on your finger?

Brenna: No, I reached up and touched the sky and it turned my finger blue.

  I love smiling with our little friends every day. They really challenge me...Here were the questions for me at lunch:
What does except mean? What does example mean? What does conversation mean? What does constellation mean?

Laughter is definitely the best medicine!

Brenna is 4!

I put a three-year-old to bed last night, and look what woke up this morning...

We are all so excited it is Brenna's birthday. (Ok, I admit I don't like the idea of saying goodbye to the threes forever in our home.) But it's so fun to celebrate our kids!

Audrey was very ready to wake her up, sing to her in her bed, give her a gift, and show her the decorations. She even wanted to carry her out :) and Brenna liked the special treatment...

 Posing with her "4" and her new little horses Audrey gave her :)

 Pointing out each decoration for her little sister...

 Brenna Baby, how did you get so sweet?
How did you get so smart?
How did you get so cute?
How did you get so funny?
How did you get so big?
How did you get so helpful?
How did you get so wonderful?
How did you get so loved?
How did you get so 4?!

Happy 4th Birthday! We love you forever and ever!

Friends Gotta Hug!

Frozen Family Party

Our birthday season is here, and we have started with a bang...a family party for 4 sweet cousins: Blakely, Brenna, Audrey, and Kenlee.

The girls requested Frozen cakes, and we were very excited for what our cake lady Mrs. Wendi created. She made blue candy to look like ice shards...really cool, pun intended :)

Brenna had just let out a happy sigh while looking at her cake...

Our family gifted them with shoes and dolls and costumes and books and playdough and horses and clothes...like another Christmas! Their favorite gift may have been the things purchased with the 900 tickets cousin Jeremy won for them: pom poms and a pony.

 Yes, Mr. Gatti's did not disappoint with its games, bumper cars,

 and indoor roller coaster!

It was really a great time to celebrate family and four sweet birthday girls!

Utterback

 Funny name...serious friends!

When I Leave the Room

Came across this song on a particularly bad homesick-for-Audrey morning after leaving her at her classroom...

"When I Leave the Room"

Good night
Looks like we made it through the day
The moon sighs
And I know that we're okay

Sleep tight
I love to watch you drift away
I would come with you but on my knees I'll stay

Good night
Five little fingers holding mine
Take flight
Into your dreams and lullabies

There's nothing more that I can do
But just fall more in love with you
And ask the angel armies to stand by
When I leave the room

I'm gonna fail you
I already have
Ten thousand times
I will fall down flat

You'll have a seat in the front row
Of everything I don't know
And all I'm trying to be
You'll see

Good night
There will be storms that we come through
In time
We will slay dragons me and you

I'll always wanna hold you tight
Keep you safe with all my might
So I will leave Jesus next to you
When I leave the room

And you will run ahead
As if you know the way
And I will pray more
Than one should have to pray

There will be words we can't take back
Silences too
And I'll be on my knees
You'll see

One night
When I am old and unsteady
You'll want me to fight
But I'll tell you that I'm ready

When there's nothing left to do
I will still be loving you
Then you'll fold your fingers into mine
And I will let Jesus hold you tight
When I leave the room

by: Natalie Grant

Twitterpated

Someone's got their first crush.

We have never really talked about girlfriends/boyfriends or how all that works, so this is coming straight from Brenna's little heart.

This is Wyatt. He moved to town this past summer, and from the very beginning of school, Brenna decided she liked him. He's in the older class, so every time we mixed classes, she would inch close to him, twist her shirt, and steal glances at him.

If you happened to mention his name around her, she got the giggliest and shyest I have ever seen her.

And I have to hand it to her...Wyatt is a very precious, very cute little boy. It took him a while to notice her because his attention was always where it needed to be--on the teacher!

(Here's another example of her stealing glances! Haha!)

Now they are very sweet little friends. She has gotten to where she is not giddy around him or about him anymore. They are both very excited to sit together, sing together, dance together...and I even caught them holding hands for pretend ice skating!

He told his mama he might just pick "Bwenna" to marry someday :)

Luckily, they don't talk up the boyfriend/girlfriend thing yet. I know that's to come. (We have both girls very scared of that for now because they are afraid they will have to kiss someone.) But everyone knows they really like each other's company...and I guess if they did end up getting married, that would make the sweetest story ever, huh :)

Here's a perfect reminder to begin praying for the one intended for our girls someday...whoever and wherever that young boy is.

Half-way through K

We had a wonderful 18 days of Christmas holiday bliss full of lots of this:

And then we had to return to reality. School.

I had finally reached the point where I could drop Audrey off without wanting to cry, and now we have started all over again. What a tease those holidays were. And Audrey wasn't extremely ready to go back either. But she was proud of her outfit and loved her curly hair on her first day of the second half of Kindergarten.

Half-way through Kindergarten. There's a reality for ya. "They" weren't joking when they said it would fly by...her whole childhood, that is. Wasn't it just yesterday that I was having to figure out what to do with such a wild mess of baby hair, or yesterday when she was such a big two-year-old welcoming her baby sister Benna into her world?

She told me her heart kept saying, "Where's my mama?" on her first day back. I'm sure she wasn't so dramatic at school, but it made this mama's heart feel good that she thought of me at least once (or at least made it up that afternoon to make me feel good...and I wouldn't put that past her!)

Half-way through Kindergarten, and she got her first mark in the dreaded "Black Cloud Book" yesterday. She was the last one in her class with a perfect record. We knew it would happen sometime, and we aren't so crazy as to make her be perfect. But we were most proud of the fact that she told us what happened as soon as she saw us...me at the car and Daddy when he got home from work. She got in trouble with a group of girls for taking too long in the bathroom and not being where they were supposed to be. It was a good lesson for all...including me to trust the teacher, let our girl have learning experiences, and be so proud of her no matter what!

Almost time to go get her...and one more day til the weekend!

The Power of a Praying Child

Favorite story to begin our year...

I gathered up the girls to pray for a special baby we love who was going to the doctor for some test results that morning. I asked them to take turns praying after me that God would be with the baby. My prayer was very simple asking God to heal, using simple words and phrases for them to understand. Audrey went after me and not only asked God to be with the baby but continued on to lift up the parents, asking God to help them not be worried. I was floored at her thoughtfulness and obedience to prayer. I explained to her after we were finished that she listened to the Holy Spirit whispering to her heart on how to pray. She did not copy me. She spoke the words the Lord wanted her to at that moment. The power of prayer...the power of a praying child.

And I am happy to say that we gathered back up not long after that to praise Him for good test results and a completely healed baby.

2014

As we enter 2014, I am seeing more clearly than ever. The Lord has opened my eyes to many things I have been overlooking or taking for granted. He has also reaffirmed things I have always known. In a form of New Year's Resolutions, I have these ideas and truths swimming around in my head right now...

1. I am hopelessly in love with my husband. He is the best of me and for me and to me, truly.

2. I will never be prouder of anything in this world than I am of my girls. And I will fight to the death and love even farther than that for them to truly know God, to know He made them incredibly special for an incredibly special purpose.

3. We have been given so much, too much. I want to be generous every day, with time, with money, with attention, with love. I want the girls to see how we look for ways to give back and help every chance we get.

4. In that same breath, I need to learn to say no. There's a difference in being a servant and being a pushover. I need to learn to save the best of me for my family and for my God.

5. Which brings the next thought, I need to start my day with Him, every day. Really, it makes all the difference.

6. I need to find the patience I used to have, a big new fresh dose from God...and buying Dr. Peppers won't hurt either.

7. I love our little town. You can keep your big city any day.

8. I like not knowing things of the world, hearing or seeing things that are not lovely and pure. People have tried to make me feel silly or naive forever, but I love being in the world and not of it. Not to make others feel bad, just to make my life feel good...

9. I need organization. I desire it. But I often cannot achieve it for one reason or another...or lots of others.

10. I love our dog...but she often drives me crazy. Maybe I'm just jealous of her energy. I'm sure 2014 will see some obedience training of some form...

11. I like to shop and look at Pinterest but then again, both of these are often a source of discontent in me. Lack of money and time do not go hand in hand with shopping and Pinterest, so I might as well steer clear.

12. I want to be a better friend/daughter/sister/neighbor...guess this falls into the time thing. I need to find little things to do spontaneously to let my loved ones know I did make time to think of them and do a little something something for them.

13. I want to read more, go to the movies more, look at my phone less, clean my car out more often, be stricter with cleaning, plan new meals, hang up clothes more promptly, iron a few of Josh's shirts...Whew. 

14. Let mercy triumph over judgment.

This last thought comes from a lovely book on living and fits in really well with my bracelet I love...

While I am seeing clearly today, I know doubts and frustrations with myself will cloud my thinking all too quickly. But may I never lose sight of the Lord's presence in my life and His many blessings as we enter the new year...“Here's my hunch: nobody's secure, and nobody feels like she completely belongs. Those insecurities are just job hazards of being human. But some people dance anyway, and those people have more fun.” (Glennon Doyle Melton, Carry On, Warrior)  Get it? A-bun-dance.

Living Abundantly in 2014!